Tag: Jury

Ten Muslim students from UC Irvine who heckled Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren during an on-campus appearance last year were found guilty Friday of two misdemeanors to conspire and to disrupt the speech, despite their arguments citing free speech.

All but one of the five judges who picked President Barack Obama as the recipient of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize sounded off on Tuesday about their decision, noting Obama’s less-than-jubilant initial reaction to the announcement and shedding more light on the reasons behind their choice, which one judge reported was unanimous.

Actor Sean Penn has already made waves at the Cannes Film Festival, where he’s leading this year’s jury, by weighing in about the presidential race back home—and by pointedly bucking the local smoking ban. Suffice it to say that Penn won’t be joining Oprah on one of her pep rallies for Barack Obama anytime soon.

Truthdig salutes the 12 jurors who sacrificed four months of their lives to sift through the lies of former Enron chiefs Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, convicting them on 25 counts of conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. Interviewed after the case, jurors were incredulous that the two former titans were unaware of the crimes at their company. “Skilling was supposed to be a hands-on individual,” one juror told a newspaper. “It’s hard to believe a hands-on individual wouldn’t know what was going on.”

That’s what the N.Y. Times calls the conviction of Enron honchos Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling. But Truthdig contributing cartoonist Mr. Fish has a different perspective (click here to see the full cartoon).

Truthdig editor Robert Scheer has written about the crooks from Texas in his new book, “Playing President.” Click here to read some of those classic columns.

Sgt. Michael Smith (pictured above threatening an Abu Ghraib detainee with a dog) becomes the ninth soldier to be convicted for detainee abuse. He faces over eight years in prison.To date, no high-ranking officials have been charged with crimes stemming from the abuses.

Vice President Cheney’s indicted former top aide, Scooter Libby, has told a grand jury that his “superiors” granted him permission to give secret information to reporters to help bolster the White House’s case for war on Iraq. | story

How convenient: Scooter’s day in court gets pushed off until after the midterm congressional elections because one of his lawyers has a “scheduling conflict.” | storyUPDATE: New documents shed more light on Libby’s perfidies. | report

The American interrogator sat on the general’s chest and covered up his mouth—both of which were apparently approved techniques. The defense claimed that the actions did not directly cause the general’s death. | storyWe can’t help but suspect that much of the Arab world might come to a different conclusion.